Basic Heavy strategy
| “ | Let us fight; man versus tiny baby man.
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— The Heavy
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The Heavy is the largest, toughest, but slowest class in the game. Although his Minigun takes some time to rev up, it possesses some of the greatest damage output, especially at close range. The Heavy can continue to keep his weapon revved in anticipation for future encounters. His great health pool and firepower makes him a very good Medic buddy. However, his large size and slow speed makes him a juicy target, especially for enemy Snipers or Spies, and his general loudness makes him subpar at ambushing. A good Heavy will coordinate with his team to tackle mission objectives together. His usefulness as a shock trooper while on offense or defense should not be underestimated by either side.
Primary weapons
Minigun / Iron Curtain / Festive Minigun / Botkiller Minigun
Think of the Minigun as a rapid-fire Shotgun; it is extremely powerful, but less effective over distances. Although the Minigun possesses a lot of firepower, it has a moderate wind-up time and firing it brings your speed to a crawl. Thus, you'll either want to have it as your active weapon at all times or simply use a different weapon when moving between areas. You can rev it while in midair, allowing you to catch enemies by surprise as you jump around corners.
Natascha
Natascha will slow enemies, forcing them to stop and face you in combat. Additionally, the effects of slowdown will interrupt any nearby enemy's approach, retreat, taunts, and the consumption of lunchbox items. The reduced damage dealt means you will be at a significant disadvantage when facing an enemy Heavy with the normal Minigun or Brass Beast.
Brass Beast
While the Brass Beast is the strongest weapon in the game in terms of damage per second, you are virtually immobile while using it. The long spin-up time makes it unsuitable for ambushing or constantly moving around. If you haven't already revved it up, you are very vulnerable to even frontal attacks. Use it alongside the Shotgun in defensive situations where you will move around less. Pair up with an Engineer and use his Dispenser as a constant stream of ammo, think of yourself as another sentry and guard key objectives with overwhelming fire power
Tomislav
The Tomislav's faster rev time allows you to deal more initial damage, compensating for the overall reduction in firepower. Additionally, the faster spin-up makes it an excellent choice for ambushing enemies. Against most enemies, perhaps excluding an enemy Heavy, you should be able to quickly deal enough damage before the Tomislav's firepower disadvantage becomes significant. Pair it with the Gloves of Running Urgently to gain a relatively high degree of mobility.
Huo-Long Heater
The Huo-Long Heater deals the same amount of damage as the Minigun. When you have it revved up, it creates a surrounding ring of fire that can help protect you from sneaky enemy Spies. However, deploying the fire ring continuously consumes ammunition, even when not firing. Thus, you'll need to more carefully choose when to rev it if expecting combat. Alternatively, you can stand near a Dispenser to continuously keep the fire ring deployed in a position of defense. Keep in mind that a well-timed Spy has the ability to jump over your ring of fire to perform a Backstab without being ignited.
Secondary weapons
Shotgun
Although the Shotgun is a secondary weapon and weaker than the Minigun, it can still deal plenty of damage. Use it when moving between areas, when slowing down to fire your Minigun would be inefficient.
Sandvich / Robo-Sandvich
The Sandvich lets you replace a source of mobile firepower, the Shotgun, with the ability to heal yourself. Use the Sandvich to patch yourself up in between fights. Make sure to begin your meal somewhere peaceful, as you are helpless during its long consumption time. Use alternate fire to throw the Sandvich on the ground to heal allies, particularly any Medic you may work with.
Dalokohs Bar / Fishcake
The Dalokohs Bar cannot heal you as quickly as the Sandvich and cannot be dropped for allies. However, because it has no cooldown, you can eat it at any time to heal minor wounds and continuously keep your increased maximum health. The Dalokohs Bar can be beneficial if your team lacks a Medic but does have a constant source of healing from either a Dispenser or medkits.
Buffalo Steak Sandvich
The Buffalo Steak Sandvich is best used to move around the battlefield quickly. Avoid engaging enemies while under its effects, as you will take increased damage and be restricted to melee weapons only. Consider using it alongside the Fists of Steel to mitigate the increased damage you take from ranged attacks. Like the Sandvich, it can be thrown onto the ground to heal injured teammates.
Family Business
The increased magazine size of the Family Business is balanced by its reduced damage, allowing it to be used for the same purposes as the Shotgun.
Melee weapons
Fists / Saxxy / Conscientious Objector / Apoco-Fists / Frying Pan / Freedom Staff
If an enemy takes you by surprise at close range, it may still be worth it to just spin up your Minigun instead of switching to your Fists; you are slow and will probably be unable to get within melee range of your foe. Still, your large health pool does give you an advantage in a melee fight against one opponent.
Killing Gloves of Boxing
Take out the Killing Gloves of Boxing when you have the enemy in a corner and can easily land your punches. Once you've obtained the critical hit boost, make the best use of it by switching to the Shotgun or simply continue swinging. Unless you're using the Tomislav, switching to your primary weapon will waste a significant portion of the boost.
Gloves of Running Urgently
Because you rarely engage in melee combat, you can use the Gloves of Running Urgently solely for its speed boost. This speed boost is useful for reaching the front lines or positioning yourself for an ambush, but not for retreating; taking the Gloves out will mark you for death, causing all damage taken to be mini-crits. For dangerous combat situations, switch back to your primary weapon early to allow the debuff to time out.
Fists of Steel
The Fists of Steel make you very difficult to kill with ranged weaponry and are particularly useful when you need to cross through open areas or retreat from a firefight. If an enemy tries to melee you, you can simply switch to one of your powerful ranged weapons and shred them.
Warrior's Spirit
If you are being healed by a Medic, the health penalty from the Warrior's Spirit is negligible. The slight damage increase does not significantly aid in killing enemies faster, so consider using a different melee weapon to give yourself some utility.
Eviction Notice
The increased attack speed of the Eviction Notice does not make up for the reduced damage. Unless you are fairly inaccurate in melee combat and could benefit from firing twice as many punches, you're better off using a different melee weapon.
Holiday Punch
Like when using the default Fists, the Holiday Punch is inefficient in standard combat due to your slow movespeed. If you do, however, catch a foe off-guard and force him to laugh, you can finish him off with almost any method of your choosing, including the Showdown taunt kill.
Item set effects
The Hibernating Bear
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The item set grants a negligible resistance to critical hits that is rarely noticeable in standard play. Because the Warrior's Spirit lowers your maximum health, you will still die to a Sniper's fully charged critical headshot, even when overhealed. Despite the questionable utility of the bonus, the weapons themselves are great when operating alone or when on defense; the Brass Beast provides significant firepower while the Buffalo Steak Sandvich provides a speed boost to quickly reposition yourself.
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